Stress, Depression, and Purpose-Specific Use of Dietary Supplements and Over-the-Counter Preparations: A Cross-Sectional Study of 120,000 Polish Adults
5 affiliations
- 1Department of Emergency Medical Service, Wroclaw Medical University, 51-616 Wroclaw, Poland
- 2Medonet, Ringier Axel Springer Poland, Domaniewska St. 49, 02-672 Warsaw, Poland
- 3Faculty of Health Science, Institute of Public Health, Jagiellonian University Medical College, 31-066 Krakow, Poland
- 4Labplus R&D, Wyspa Słodowa 7, 50-266 Wrocław, Poland
- 5Faculty of Medicine, Andrzej Frycz Modrzewski Krakow University, 30-705 Kraków, Poland
Abstract
Background/Objectives: Dietary supplements and over-the-counter (OTC) preparations are widely used to self-manage stress, low mood, and disturbed sleep. Population research has treated such use as one undifferentiated behaviour. We examined whether stress and affective burden co-occur with supplement and OTC use in a purpose-specific way and how they relate to self-medication and primary-care contact. Methods: We analysed cross-sectional data from the National Test of Poles’ Health (non-probability, self-selected web survey; wave 5, 2024; N = 120,000), with trend analyses across five cross-sections (2020–2024). Survey-weighted logistic regression related four indicators of psychological burden to purpose-specific use of mood-, sleep-, and memory-targeted products, with a symptom-by-purpose matrix, age- and sex-stratified replication, and E-values. Results: Mood-product use rose along a gradient of psychological burden, from frequent stress (adjusted odds ratios [aOR] 1.80, 95% confidence intervals [CI] 1.72–1.88) through work-related exhaustion (2.17, 2.08–2.26) and poor self-rated mental health (2.44, 2.34–2.55) to a lifetime depression diagnosis (2.53, 2.41–2.65). A lifetime depression diagnosis also co-occurred with sleep (1.92, 1.83–2.01) and memory-product use (1.77, 1.69–1.85), while multivitamin and hair/skin use stayed flat (aOR ≈ 1.0). In this subgroup (n = 21,793), targeted use co-occurred with OTC self-medication (mood 1.70, 1.59–1.83; sleep 1.61, 1.50–1.73) without reduced primary-care contact. Associations were observed in both broad age strata (≤54 vs. >54 years) and both sexes (E-values 4.3–9.5). Purpose-specific use rose across the five cross-sections. Conclusions: Supplement use tracks stress and affective burden in a purpose-specific way and, among respondents reporting a lifetime physician diagnosis of depression, accompanies OTC self-medication. This pattern marks a group whose self-management concentrates on preparations with limited trial support. The scope of these findings is set by two features: the depression measure is lifetime, not an assessment of current symptoms, and the questionnaire recorded the purpose of use, not the product identity, ingredients or dose.
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BibTeX
@article{urbanowicz2026stress,
title = {{Stress, Depression, and Purpose-Specific Use of Dietary Supplements and Over-the-Counter Preparations: A Cross-Sectional Study of 120,000 Polish Adults}},
author = {Akanksha Urbanowicz and Anna Zimny-Zając and Mateusz Dróżdż and Grzegorz Mazur and Siddarth Agrawal},
journal = {Nutrients},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.3390/nu18213615},
url = {https://www.mdpi.com/2072-6643/18/21/3615},
note = {CC BY 4.0},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - Stress, Depression, and Purpose-Specific Use of Dietary Supplements and Over-the-Counter Preparations: A Cross-Sectional Study of 120,000 Polish Adults
AU - Akanksha Urbanowicz
AU - Anna Zimny-Zając
AU - Mateusz Dróżdż
AU - Grzegorz Mazur
AU - Siddarth Agrawal
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/30
JO - Nutrients
DO - 10.3390/nu18213615
UR - https://www.mdpi.com/2072-6643/18/21/3615
AB - Background/Objectives: Dietary supplements and over-the-counter (OTC) preparations are widely used to self-manage stress, low mood, and disturbed sleep. Population research has treated such use as one undifferentiated behaviour. We examined whether stress and affective burden co-occur with supplement and OTC use in a purpose-specific way and how they relate to self-medication and primary-care contact. Methods: We analysed cross-sectional data from the National Test of Poles’ Health (non-probability, self-selected web survey; wave 5, 2024; N = 120,000), with trend analyses across five cross-sections (2020–2024). Survey-weighted logistic regression related four indicators of psychological burden to purpose-specific use of mood-, sleep-, and memory-targeted products, with a symptom-by-purpose matrix, age- and sex-stratified replication, and E-values. Results: Mood-product use rose along a gradient of psychological burden, from frequent stress (adjusted odds ratios [aOR] 1.80, 95% confidence intervals [CI] 1.72–1.88) through work-related exhaustion (2.17, 2.08–2.26) and poor self-rated mental health (2.44, 2.34–2.55) to a lifetime depression diagnosis (2.53, 2.41–2.65). A lifetime depression diagnosis also co-occurred with sleep (1.92, 1.83–2.01) and memory-product use (1.77, 1.69–1.85), while multivitamin and hair/skin use stayed flat (aOR ≈ 1.0). In this subgroup (n = 21,793), targeted use co-occurred with OTC self-medication (mood 1.70, 1.59–1.83; sleep 1.61, 1.50–1.73) without reduced primary-care contact. Associations were observed in both broad age strata (≤54 vs. >54 years) and both sexes (E-values 4.3–9.5). Purpose-specific use rose across the five cross-sections. Conclusions: Supplement use tracks stress and affective burden in a purpose-specific way and, among respondents reporting a lifetime physician diagnosis of depression, accompanies OTC self-medication. This pattern marks a group whose self-management concentrates on preparations with limited trial support. The scope of these findings is set by two features: the depression measure is lifetime, not an assessment of current symptoms, and the questionnaire recorded the purpose of use, not the product identity, ingredients or dose.
SN - 2072-6643
ER -